As the interest in the use of batteries to power a variety of applications has increased, a variety of systems have been proposed that connect large numbers of electrochemical cells together. In order to reduce damage to the cells, it is often desirable to monitor the characteristics of individual cells or groups of cells. For instance, the voltage across the cells is often monitored is order to prevent over-charging and/or over-discharging of the cells. This monitoring is often achieved by connecting wires to the serial connections in the system. However, the number of interconnected electrochemical cells is being increased dramatically in response to the increased power demands of applications such as cars. The use of these wires in connection with systems that interconnect large numbers of electrochemical cells dramatically increases the size, weight, complexity, and maintenance challenges of the system. Further, as the number of electrochemical cells increases, the wires become a source of failure in the system. As a result, there is a need for an improved system having multiple interconnected electrochemical cells.